Alleged bowling alley gunman faces sex charge

By Steve McDaniel

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Gary Fraley

Charges continue to mount for a Goose Creek man accused of attempted murder and kidnapping.

Gary Curtis Fraley, 47, in custody for allegedly holding a man hostage and firing a shot at a Goose Creek bowling alley, is also facing a charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, according to a Goose Creek police report.

He faces four other charges, along with the sexual conduct charge, in a second court hearing Thursday. The new charges are kidnapping, unlawful neglect of a child by a legal custodian and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Fraley is alleged to have taken the minor to the Econo-Lodge in Goose Creek at approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday and forced the child into sexual acts. That was about two hours before police said he went to Royal Lanes on Central Avenue and confronted the bowling center’s owner at gunpoint.

Goose Creek police spokesman John Grainger said Tuesday that Fraley held the owner at gunpoint for several minutes before firing a shot inside the center.

Witnesses said they could hear an argument in the owner’s office prior to a gunshot. The suspect had an “unspecified dispute” with the owner, Grainger said Tuesday.

The owner was able to leave the office with the suspect still inside, and that is when a shot was fired. At that point, police said Fraley barricaded himself in the office.

Police responded shortly after that, evacuated the bowling alley, and established a perimeter around the outside of the building.

Another police report states that Fraley is a suspect in a hit-and-run at the Econo-Lodge on Tuesday afternoon.

Fraley was denied bond at his initial court hearing Wednesday and remains in custody.

The Gazette does not identify victims of sexual crimes. Some details of the alleged assault have been omitted to protect the child’s identity.

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